PRONUNCIATION: (blimp) MEANING:noun: A pompous reactionary with out-of-date views. ETYMOLOGY:After Colonel Blimp, a cartoon character created by David Low (1891-1963). Blimp was a satirical look at the self-important and ultra-nationalistic attitudes of officials in the British army and government. Earliest documented use: 1934.==========================================================

GLIMP - One quick sneak peek. If you look more than once, you use the plural, "glimps," for the brief image you see.

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And...and...but...I thought the word Blimp preceded the cartoon character, that indeed the character's name was a back-derivation from the name of that other, literal, gasbag. Military barrage balloons, with no internal structure and hence "limps," came in two shapes: the round ones - A-limps - and the cigar-shaped ones we see more often - "B-limps," quickly shortened to Blimps. Is this story totally apocryphal?

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French desprisier (dispraise), from Latin pretium (price, worth, or reward). Ultimately from the Indo-European root per- (to traffic in, to sell) which also gave us praise, price, precious, appreciate, appraise, and interpret. Earliest documented use: 1480.

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DISPRIDE - that warm feeling you get after delivering an absolutely crushing insult

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